Cold conditions raise hope for White Xmas

SHIMLA: With the Queen of hills reeling under severe cold conditions since the onset of December, expectations of a white Christmas have started floating amongst locals as well as visitors here. Nerve-cracking cold has forced people to wrap up in heavy woolens in Shimla and the plummeting morning and evening temperatures have raised hopes of witnessing the spectacle of snowfall on the occasion.
According to the director of state meteorological department, Manmohan Singh, "It was in 1991 that Shimla witnessed white Xmas the last time. Any kind of precipitation or snowfall is entirely dependent on the Western Disturbances, which, luckily, have already been given biting moments to the region since December 18."
According to estimates of the regional met office, chances of snowfall during the winter season have now reduced to 23%. From 1971 to 1991, Shimla witnessed snowfall nine times during Xmas. In 1989, snowfall was observed during Xmas for five continuous days, in 1995 Christmas day had 10cm snow and in 1991 there was snowfall for two days starting December 25. Scientists and environmentalists hold human inference with nature as well global warming responsible for the climatic changes and disturbances in snowfall patterns.
Senior scientist at the HP unit of G B Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development at Mohal in Kullu, J C Kuniyal opined, "It is not that snowfall does not occur these days during Christmas; the only difference now is that the winter season has squeezed to around two months, which was earlier 4 to 5 months and the weather conditions have become erratic and unpredictable due to human interference with nature and presence of aerosols in atmosphere. Local emissions in the atmosphere within hills have altered the climatic patterns." It is positivity which works everywhere and we are positive about witnessing snowfall this Xmas, he added.
Old-timers in Shimla while remembering snow pattern in the hills and fondly recall heavy snowfall. Shimla veteran Vishambhar Lal Sood, who is in his late 70s, said, "I can recall the heaviest snowfall I witnesses in my lifetime in 1945 when Shimla got buries under 7-8 feet of snow. Those were the days when there used to be heavy snowfall; since past few years there has been hardly any snowfall in the winters."
Vivek Mohan, a filmmaker hailing from Shimla, also made a film titled "For whom the jingle bells tolls', that revolves around the theme of environment and snowfall during Christmas in Shimla. The film outlines a poignant story set in Shimla wherein he explores the reasons behind climate change and the protagonist (filmmaker himself) makes a journey back to his hometown to find whether it will be a white Christmas or not as it used to be when he was a kid. Speaking about expectations of a white Christmas, Vivek opined that the erratic behaviour of nature was man-made and it could be reversed if we turn pro-nature.